Chapter 8 Notes.docx

Chapter 8: (pgs. 186-210)
Social Stratification
1) Patterns of Social Inequality (pgs 186 - 199)
 Shipwrecks and Inequality
 Social Stratification: Refers to the way in which society is organized in layers or strata.
 Economic Inequality in Canada
 On average (2008), Canadian families earned almost $79,000/year.
 Explanations of Income Inequality
 Human capital: The sum of useful skills and knowledge that an individual possesses.
 Social capital: The network or connections that individuals possess.
 Cultural capital: The stock of knowledge, tastes, and habits that legitimate the maintenance
of status and power.
 Income versus Wealth
Individual or Family Estimated Wealth
1. Thomas Family $23.36 B
2. Galen Weston $8.5 B
3. Irving Family $7.46 B
4. Rogers Family $6.02 B
5. James Pattison $5.53 B
6. Paul Desmarais Sr. $4.28 B
7. Bernard Sherman $3.94 B
8. Jeff Skoll $3.56 B
9. Saputo family $3.52 B
10. Fred and Ron Mannix $3.18 B
 Income and Poverty
 Low-income cutoff: Statistics Canada’s term for the income threshold below which a family
devotes at least 20% more of its income to the necessities of food, shelter, and clothing
than an average family would, likely resulting straitened circumstances
Summary:
 While the average income of Canadians has grown in the last half century, extensive income
inequality endures.
 Differences in human, social, and cultural capital contribute to existing inequalities.
 Levels of poverty are better explained by structural factors than individual factors. Chapter 8: (pgs. 186-210)
Social Stratification
2) Theories of Stratification (pgs 199 - 204)
 Conflict Perspective
 Marx
 Feudalism: Was a legal arrangement in preindustrial Europe that bound peasants to
the land and obliged them to give their landlords a set part of their harvest. In
exchange, landlords were required to protect peasants from marauders and open their
storehouses to feed the peasants if crops failed.
 Class consciousness: Being aware of membership in a class.
 Class: Determined by a person’s relationship to the means of production.
 Bourgeoisie: Owners of the means of production, including factories, tools, and land.
They do not do any physical labour. Their income derives from profits.
 Proletariat: The working class. Members of the proletariat do physical labour but do
not own means of production. They are thi